Ahmad Abbas, a tiny Kashmiri cricketer, has earned the praise of the legendary Australian spinner Shane Warner with his eye-catching googly bowling on the social media on December 5.
A few months earlier, a video clip of the 'mystery' ball shot by Bastion Cricket Academy shared by a journalist has become the talking point on social media and also caught the attention of the spin wizard Warne on Thursday (December 5) and even he replied to the tweet.
The seven-year-old took part at a cricket camp in Ganderbal near his Srinagar home earlier this summer and became famous with his lone mystery delivery across the world –as the young bowler bowled a ripper of a wrong 'un that turned nearly a meter and a half to dismiss teenager Ebrahim Andrabi.
In the video, Andrabi can be seen pitched the ball pitched well outside leg but was bamboozled by the sharp turn that eventually cleans him up, while Ahmad went berserk in celebrations and surrounded by his teammates.
Ahmad told News18 from Dubai, where they have been leaving form last 14 years, “I love Shane Warne. He liked my googly.”
While his father Ali said, “I broke the news to Ahmad that Shane Warne had discussed his googly that he had bowled on a live television show. He was ecstatic. The very next moment he climbed out of his bed and put on his pads. He was holding his cricket bat. He was over the moon.”
Meanwhile, Warne’s retweet also noticed by Fox Cricket and discussed during Lunch on Day 2 of the Adelaide Test between India and Australia. Even, the panel comprising with the legendary leg-spinner was a part of the panel, along with Isha Guha, Michael Hussey and Mark Howard, shared the youngster's delivery on TV and Warne rate it as 'The Ball of the Century'!
On the other hand, Haroon Rashid Khan, Ahmad’s coach T Bastion academy believes that the kid has the potential to make it big, saying: “The best part of his bowling is that the release point of his delivery is above his head. Most leg-spinners deliver the ball from the side. And that makes him different and difficult to pick. My academy is not remunerative. It is worship.”
He signed off by saying, “Ahmad joins us in summers and he and his father are very keen on his practice. In fact, his father travels 40 km to bring and fetch him from the academy. Ahmad never touches the bats like the other kids do but bowls tirelessly in the nets. That is crazy for a kid like him. I think he likes the smell and the leather of the ball. As of now, he is spraying the ball but with more practice, he will get sharp and accurate.”
(With Cricketnext Inputs)
